A quote worth listening to

This came from an article that I cannot find to save my life.  I tried to find it and link it so you could go straight to the source, but I didn’t.  However, I did find it in many other blogs so I will paste it.  After all, it says what is says.  But if you know where this article is, please tell me and I will edit this so people can read it directly from the source.

If all SBC participants represented this idea, I might not distance myself from that label quite so much….

 

According to former President Jimmy Draper, who said Monday “We have reached a
place that our spiritual forefathers feared.” “We need to admit that the problem
with America today is not the government or the politicians,” Draper said. “It
is not Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama or John McCain. It’s not the senators or
representatives. The problem is not the educational system or the economy. It’s
not the liberals or the abortionists. The problem lies with us.” “We
conservatives claim to have the truth and we think we are rich in spiritual
position and power, but yet we are cold, complacent, impotent and unattractive,
and irrelevant to the world,” Draper said. “I hate to say it, but we are not
plateaued. We’re not even just declining. We’re in a free fall.” “You know why
we don’t win the lost?” Draper asked. “Because we don’t like them. They are
different from us. We don’t care for them. We have no real love for them.”
“People just don’t touch eternity when they are around us,” Draper said. “We’re
too self-absorbed.”

 

Does the Bible Answer All Our Problems

This is sort of a follow up from my previous post: Genesis 6/8.  I said that “God’s Word really can solve all our problems.”  Yesterday, I’m reading in The Myth Of A Christian Nation, (See reading list to your right) and I see a quote by Deitrich Bonhoffer.  He said this, “Jesus concerns Himself hardly at all with the solution of worldly problems. . . . His word is not an answer to human questions and problems; it is the answer of God to the quesiton of God to man.  His word is. . . . not a solution, but a redemption.”  Interesting.  Maybe I stand corrected how I phased my statement because I see what Bonhoffer is saying.  Honestly, I really don’t feel that God typically inspires us to make specific decisions about thins in life such as: spouse, job, home, ect.  I do feel that when we set out to live for Him, by His word, and for His cause, then we are divinely given wisdom to make these type of decisions accordingly.  Anyway, this is a good thought to ponder.  If it is true, it opens up to the possibility that we are wasting our effort searching for God to make our decisions for us when He has given us everything we need to live for Him. 

Genesis 6/8

I cannot think of anything to add to the finale of this current series, for Tim pretty much covered it.  God’s Word really can solve all our problems.  It can straighten us out, heal our addictions, change our attitude and make us a better person.  However, it wont tell us how we should make the specific decisions that come our way i.e, who to marry, what career to pursue, where to live, etc. 

What Scripture does do is teach us about Our God–our creator–and how He created this good earth.  In learning about Him, we learn about ourselves.  The more we learn about Him and ourselves, the more we observe how the world actually is and how it is supposed to be.  We learn that life is not all about us.  We learn what our true priorities should be.  If we pursue this knowledge from our Creator, we are given widsom which allows us to make all decisions based on the wisdom and knowledge of God.  Our choices become healthier.  We choose a spouse for the right reasons and have a healthy and fulfilled marriage.  We recognize what our talent and skills are and choose a carrier based on those instead of how much we earn or what prestige may come from our occupation.  We realize that no matter where we live, we are still in the same world and have to be an advocate for God’s Kingdom to the people around us.  We learn that what really counts in this life is putting ourselves aside for the sake of others for the love of Jesus.  With that alone, our troubles go away.  We are filled with GodNot in the sense that they disappear, but we don’t see them as problems so much as they are just circumstances.  Chuck Swindoll said that a problem is 10% circumstance and 90% attitude.

May we all be constantly reminded that it is absolutly vital to take in God’s Word so that we may know Him and live as we were created to live.

Random thought

I have found the Documentary Channel (my kind of stuff).  While watching a doc of Robert Kennedy’s assisination, who was a strong advocate for the poor, a man says “really working for poor people in this country is a dangerous thing.  We found that out through MLK jr, President Kennedy, and Bob Kennedy as well.)  I add Jesus to that list.  Isn’t it interesting just how much our culture does not like to acknowledege the poor.  We don’t like to look at it, and we are prone to even react angrily when it is forced upon us.  Yet, Jesus had so much to say about the how we who follow him are supposed to consider, help, and lift up the poor.  He makes it clear that we should never stand for or accept poverty.  It is an injustice that God never intended in His good creation.  But, people who have commited their lives to resolve poverty have died  by the hand of their fellow man.  I was floored by this statement. Not sure why; it doesn’t surprise me.  This causes me to think about where I generally stand in obedience with my Lord.

Myth Of A Christian Nation

So I’m reading this book (here and there).  I’ll have more to say on it as I go along, but I want to encourage everyone to consider reading it.  Boyd takes a very challenging approach in teaching about a “power-over” kingdom vs. a “power-under” kingdom. 

Here is an except from the back cover:

Boyd shows how Jesus taught us to seek a “power-under” kingdom, where greatness is measured by sacrifice and service.  There are not sides or enemies because we are meant to embrace and accept everyone.  In The Myth of a Christian Nation, Dr. Boyd challenges readers to return to the true love of Calvary and the message of the cross–setting the “power-over” politics of wordly government aside.

As always, I may not agree with every little point he makes, but I do think he is making a strong case of what it means to live more for Jesus than anything else.

 

Hope found in pain

Have you ever thought that pain can bring hope.  Think about it.  God created the world and it was good.  Everything was right.  People messed things up by making decisions contrary to the goodness in which God created.  The result: Pain.  Pain is the messenger that something is not right.  Pain tells us we are hurting or destroying what is good.  Were it not for pain, we would have no deterrent from continuing our destructive behavior.  Pain lets us know when we step out of line.  Yet, we view pain as the enemy.  We avoid pain as if living pain-free would satisfy us.  Sometimes we even make destructive decisions in the attempt to avoid pain which only bring us more…..(care to guess?)  that’s right, MORE PAIN.

To the question, why does God give pain; he didn’t.  God gave us  everything in its perfect state.  It is when we act contrary to God’s goodness that produces pain, so God didn’t bring pain into this world, we did.  Pain is our fault.  The enemy may have tempted, but pain is our creation. The enemy did not make our decisions for us.

So pain tells us when something is wrong, but how does it bring hope?  Where pain is present, so is the understanding that there is something, some way of living, acting, doing, thinking, being, loving that is better.  If we feel pain, then we automatically know that there is a better way, and we can get to that place if we make the right choices.   If I am hurting, then I know I am doing something wrong.  Pain encourages me to do right.  When I do right, as God would have us, then I am closer to where God is, and all of our hope should be wanting to be closer to God.  And it is there, in God’s presence, where pain cannot exist becuase everything is right again.

Just a thought,

Jim

2 more to go

I am 35 years old, married, father of one, an 11 year at&t employee, love to read and think about theology philosophy, and wonder how I can do my part to bring Heaven to Earth, and I am also a Guitar Hero fan.  I got part 2 for Christmas 2006.  Within 2 Months I had half the songs on expert complteted.  By later summer last year I only needed to complete the last 4 to complete the game.  In the fall I got part 3 and haven’t picked 2 up hardly at all.  As of last Sunday, I still had not beat the last 4.  But, Monday night I finally worked through 2 of them leaving only 2 more to go.  The next you hear of this, I will have completed Guitar Hero II on expert (just in time for the Aerosmith addition to arrive in a couple of weeks)  Hope nobody expects me to 5 star expert.  I don’t want to be that good.

Jim

Genesis 6/1: Memorizing Scripture

There was a lot given Sunday night about the importance of memorizing scripture. There is a thought I want to share what a message like that means to me. The word “memorize” is an intimidating word to me. When I think of memorization, I think of every sound and letter having to be perfect. Now that is not a bad thing, but, to me, the most important aspect of memorizing God’s Word is not the lines verbatim but what is being communicated. In other words, I may not know the exact phrase, where exactly the passage is, how each word is spelled, etc, but I make it a point to understand the message and know how it plays a part in my life. Once I get that, then I work to hone in on the specific nature of the passage itself because it is valuable to know Scripture to that level. Just remember, it is possible to be able to quote anything but not have any idea what it really means. And more sadly, there are those out there who can quote a lot, and they do, but the very words coming out of their lips are not being reflected in there lives. This leads me to my point.

How can anyone expect to know how to live if they don’t know what God says about living?

If people go on about their life without instruction, they don’t have the wisdom or knowledge to make good decisions. This leads to problems. Problems cause us to react. And the goal of our reactions are usually to nullify the immediate problem in which the problem is prolonged and not addressed. This is not living, and it sure isn’t Godly living. So do we, the church, really want to spend our lives just reacting (existing), or do we want to live: even live life to its fullest. Then WE MUST READ SO WE CAN KNOW GOD’S WORD AND IT MUST BE A PART OF US! There is no getting around this. It is everyone’s responsibility.

Tim mentioned Jeremiah where it says in chapter 1 that “the word of the Lord came to him.” this isn’t magic, Jeremiah read the Scriptures.

Paul was qualified to bring the Gospel to the gentiles because he was extremely versed in God’s Word. Because he knew the Scriptures so well (Old Testament), he was able to discern for the rest of the world what they were saying in light of Jesus. There again, Paul knew the Scriptures.

And who can over look all the times that Jesus himself used and referred to the Scriptures in his teaching.

We all are hungry. Hungry for knowledge and wisdom. God gives us His Word to fill that hunger. If we don’t eat of it, we will fill on something else. The junk food then spoils our appetite. Because we don’t eat healthy, we are weak or ill or both. Maybe the good food won’t taste that good at first, but the health and nourishment it brings will allow us to live a healthier life. Then we will want nothing else. So, go eat, go know, go memorize so then you can live.

As always, your comments and/or questions are welcome,

Jim

Rob’s New Book

In writing that last post, I stumbled across the fact that Rob Bell has a new book coming out soon.  How could I not know this.  I have a particular friend (TG) that surly would not have kept such a significant detail from me.  Or perhaps I could say that he does not know of Rabbi Bell’s upcoming work, but I know better.  Enough of that, here is the link to if you want to check it out.  The title is, Jesus Wants To Save Christians.”

 

Is God Fair?

We in Genesis have been talking about studying.  For some reason, a particular passage has been front and center of the brain housing so why not share it.

One of the first books I read that really opened new perspectives in Scripture was Your God is Too Safe by Mark Buchanan.  In that book he addresses how fairness is viewed in our modern culture as opposed to how God may respond.  He ask the question, is God fair, and uses the story of Cain and Able to make a point. Click here to catch up on this story in Genesis 4.

• Was it fair that God was pleased  with Abel’s sacrifice more than Cain’s?
• Was it fair that God allowed Able to be murdered especially after being so pleased with his sacrifice?
• Was is fair that God did not punish Cain “eye for an eye?”

Here is the part that really spoke to me.  When God did pronounce Cain’s punishment, Cain partitioned to God claiming that the punishment was too severe.  God listened to Cain.  In response to Cain’s cry, God placed a mark on Cain so other people would see the mark and know that they would suffer even greater vengeance if Cain was killed.  I’ve always heard about the mark of Cain.  I’ve always heard people try to rationalize the details of this story so God would not seem unfair.  I also, up to this point, would have thought that if would have been perfectly fine to bring Cain to proper justice: ie. “eye for an eye”

I had never heard that Cain’s mark was a mark of protection which adds at least one more question to the  list above.

• Was it fair that God protects on a murderer?

In a moment after reading this, I was overcome by how differently my response toward Cain would have been.  If my natural reaction would have been wrong in this case, what else am I wrong about.   Where else was I making decisions contrary to how God wants me to act.  Initially my question was, “But, God, that was not fair.”  But who in the world am I question God’s fairness. 

 This perspective has changed me.  In a world where people act so viciously toward each other, I find myself looking for what God is doing in the mist instead of making matters worse by implementing my judgment based on my sense fairness.  (Well, honestly I may do so on a good day.  There are still times that my natural reactions are not representing God very well.)  And I can say that there have been times that not reacting based on my sense of judgement has kept my foot out of my mouth a bit more. (notice that I say “a bit more,” again, I’m no where close to having my mouth and mind completely tamed.)

This is just one example of how studying has helped me see more of who God really is.  Since then I have learned a lot of things from a lot of different people.  Some I never thought I would be in agreement with.  So find some voices for yourself that might stretch or challenge your thinking.  Again, even if you don’t agree with someone, then at least you’ll know why you don’t agree.  Your beliefs will become your own, and you will not be dependant on someone else to dictate your beliefs for you.

 

Jim